Lesson Five: Westward Expansion
Grades 4 and 8
The Industrial Revolution,
Westward Expansion, Technology and
Innovation in the 1800s, Regional
Differences, The Influence of People and
Ideas on History, Causes and Effects in
History
Established Goals:
SS4H6 – The student will explain westward expansion of America between 1801 and 1861.
a. Describe the impact of the steamboat, the steam locomotive, and the telegraph on life in
America.
SS4G1 – The student will be able to locate important physical and man-made features in the
United States.
a. Locate major physical features of the U.S.; include the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Great
Plains, St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.
b. Locate major man-made features; include New York City, NY; and the Erie Canal.
SS4G2 – The student will describe how physical systems affect human systems.
c. Explain how the physical geography of each colony helped to determine the economic
activities practiced therin.
e. Describe physical barriers that hindered and physical gateways that benefited
territorial expansion form 1801 to 1861.
SS4CG4 – The students will explain the importance of Americans sharing certain central
democratic beliefs and principle, both personal and civic.
SS4E1 – The student will use basic economic concepts to illustrate historical events.
f. Give examples of technological advancements and their impact on business productivity
during the development of the United States.
SS5H3 – The student will describe how life changed in America at the turn of the century.
a. Describe the impact on American life of Thomas Edison (electricity)
b. Describe how William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt expanded America’s role in the
world; include the building of the Panama Canal.
c. Describe the reasons people emigrated to the United States, from where they emigrated,
and where they settled.
SS5G2 - The student will explain the reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.
a. Identify and explain the factors influencing industrial location in the United States after
the Civil War.
ELA4R1 – The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a warranted
and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational texts.
ELA4R3 – The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it in reading and
writing.
ELA4LSV1 – The student participates in student-to-teacher, student-to-student, and group
verbal interactions.
*Essential Question: “What are different ways
people can acquire land?
LESSON PLAN
American History and Georgia History
I.
PURPOSE: to Understand the Westward Expansion Movement and the
beginning of America’s Industrial Revolution
II. Read the following paragraph as a class, individually or in a group.
III. KNOWLEDGE LEARNED: By studying these topics students will understand:
*The struggles and accomplishments of the people of Georgia during the Period of
Georgia.
SS8RC1 Students will enhance reading in all curriculum areas by:
c. Building vocabulary knowledge
d. Establishing context
Students will use the Information Processing Skills: 11, 12 & 16
IV. NCSS THEME MATCHES:
Theme I: Culture; Theme II: Time, Continuity and Change; Theme IV: Individual,
Identity, and Development; Theme V: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions, Theme VI:
Power, Authority, and
Governance; Theme X: Civic Ideals and Practices
V. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES: paired reading from secondary sources,
collaborative learning
VI. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Students will learn about the information presented in the
standards and will
be able to explain the key issue and event that led to the Industrial Revolution and
Westward Expansion.
VII. REQUIRED MATERIALS: pen/pencil, information from Roswell CVB’s Cotton
Mill website.
VIII. ADDITIONAL MATERIALS: Research books on textile mills in the South for a
comparison)
Western Movement Discussion:
*Teachers should lead a discussion with students concerning the various ways we
acquired land for our country such as the original thirteen states from Britain through the
Revolutionary War (1783), the Louisiana Purchase from France (1803) Texas annexation
from Mexico (1845-1848), Gadsen Purchase from Mexico (1853) and the Oregon
Country from Britain (1846). Discuss the term land lottery.
Reading
Part I.
In a group or with a partner, read the selection below and
answer the fill in the blank questions:
As factories sprang up in the region, another significant event
took place, Roswell King of Darien, Georgia decided to take an
exploratory trip to Auraria to investigate the gold discoveries. As he
traveled on horseback he happened upon Vickery’s Creek. With the
waters rushing before him, he envisioned a mill with a community close
by. Later, he would obtain the land from someone who received it in a
land lottery. King began construction of the mill and offered home sites
to friends and business associates from the coast of Georgia.
By 1839 he and his son, Barrington, and their slaves had settled in the
area north of the Chattahoochee River. In 1839, the Roswell
Manufacturing Company would incorporate and have approximately
150 operatives working at the mill. Unfortunately, King’s wife,
Catherine, never saw her family’s enterprise, nor the town that would
be named for her husband. She died while still living in Darien. In 1844,
Roswell King died and the couple’s son, Barrington King, worked to
carry on his father’s dream. He served as president of the Roswell
Manufacturing Company for twenty-seven years, from its incorporation
in 1839 until his death in 1866.
According to the Roswell Historical Society’s book, Roswell: A
Pictorial History, King’s cotton mill “was built right below the dam,
and early surveys show it to be a long and narrow building connected to
the machine shop by a wooden raceway.” It is thought that much of the
machinery for the mill came by oxcart from Augusta and that some of
the components, including the original water wheels, may have been
produced on site.
PART II. The Detective:
Be a detective! Research difference regions and cities in Georgia. On the
Chart below match the areas and cities of Georgia with the ways their first
settlers acquired land!
1. Begin with Roswell,
Using the story, How did Roswell King acquire the land to build the Roswell
Mill? Write it under the correct heading below.
Treaties
Land Lotteries
Purchase